New Covid-19 cases down 4.1% last week

The number of new Covid-19 infections in the country for the 21st epidemiology week (ME 21) from May 22 to 28 saw a drop of 4.1% to 13,076 cases compared to 13,630 cases the week before (ME 20).

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this brought the total number of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia at that point to 4,502,579.

“The average Covid-19 infectivity rate (Rt) also showed a fall of 1.1% to 0.93 compared to 0.94 the week earlier,” he said in a statement today.

He said the number of recoveries in ME 21 also showed an increase of 4.2% (15,278 cases to 15,925 cases) compared to ME 20, taking cumulative recoveries at that point to 4,441,702.

The number of deaths in ME 21 also dropped 34.5% to 19 cases compared to 29 cases the week before, taking cumulative deaths to 35,660.

Meanwhile, the admission of Covid-19 patients into health facilities, namely hospitals and low risk quarantine and treatment centres (PKRCs) for each 100,000 residents also went down by 10% for the same ME compared to the earlier week.

“There was no change to Covid-19 patient admission into public hospitals for each 100,000 people. The total cases requiring respiratory assistance went down by 6.1%.

“Overall, bed occupancy at PKRCs was not critical and the rate was unchanged while bed occupancy at intensive care units rose by 17%,” Noor Hisham said.

He added that the number of Covid-19 cases monitored by assessment centres (CACs) nationwide also fell with patients visiting CACs down by 5.1%. The number of new Covid-19 cases undergoing monitoring at home meanwhile dipped by 6.5%.

The number of Covid-19 cases referred by CACs to PKRCs or hospitals also dropped drastically to 46.6%, he said.